Captain America (2011)

Now here’s a movie I was waiting for! When the first trailer came out at the beginning of the year, I was so eager with anticipation, I could only be disappointed! Turns out, I was not. Captain America truly did live up to the trailer, and that is a very rare thing for a movie.
The last in the series before the Avengers comes out (spoiler alert I guess), this is the story of Steve Rogers, a ninety pound asthmatic who through shear determination to join the army gets enlisted in an experimental program that grants him superhuman strength. He then becomes an American hero and goes on to fighting a Nazi general, who it turns out, is more than just an angry German (that would be another spoiler I guess). All this takes place through a both very realistic and fantastic (the old definition here, not “Fantastic 4” style. Think “The Invisible Man” if you will. If you don’t understand what I mean, well, tough….) recreation of the Second World War period.
This is another Marvel Masterpiece. Visually it is as impressive as it is well played. All the actors are perfect in their respective roles, and there seems to be no weak points in the movie. The balance of action, drama, impressiveness, comedy and story is on a par with previous Marvel movies, that means very good! And best of all, even though Marvel were dealing with one of the hardest characters to take seriously, they managed to pull it off. Chris Evans’ Captain America is not camp, nor is he a Duke Nukem-style patriot. He is both superhero and humble at the same time, but not too goody two-shoes. Yes there is American patriotism; the whole movie in fact has the feeling of a Second World War recruitment ad, but that is what it has to be to pay tribute to the original Captain America (the comic book part is true, Wikipedia-it). It still remained very good. Moreover, the movie brings together the Marvel universe in a very interesting way.
And yet, unlike Thor and Iron Man, I was not stricken per se. It was all very impressive, but the story kind of flew in a way. Some may say that is a good thing, I did not see the passing of time, so I genuinely enjoyed myself, yet it is not that. To say why I was left a bit disappointed would be to give the movie away a bit….
As Captain America only had one movie to develop himself, everything had to be pushed in two hours. All of his Second World War exploits are told in those two hours, and they take place over a few years. Next time we see him will be in the Avengers. I guess the reason why I was disappointed was because of Marvel’s timing. If the Avengers came out in 2015 for example, we could have had more Captain America and thus get a better chance to explore the character. In the movie you do get the feeling he is asthmatic, boom-hero, then boom- he saves the world, and then finally, boom-literally. The character lacked development.
But then again, if the Avengers were to come out in 2015, I would have gone mad.
Bring on May 2012 (stay until after the credits to know why)!!!!!

4/5
Loved: Superbly made, impressive visuals, great story, great actors etc…
Hated: More time to develop Captain America rather than pushing it all in one movie.